Can a Quarterback Throw to Anyone?

Rule 8, Section 1, Article 5 lists who may catch a forward pass thrown from behind the line:

The fourth line matters: once a defender or an eligible receiver has touched the pass, every offensive player may catch it. A deflected pass can therefore be caught by a lineman.

Article 6 says every offensive player not named in Article 5 is ineligible. It lists the cases, including players who are not on an end of their line or at least one yard behind it when the ball is snapped, players who fail to notify the Referee that they are eligible, and an eligible receiver who has been out of bounds before or during the pass, even if he has returned inbounds. A player who takes his stance as a T-formation quarterback is also ineligible unless, before the snap, he legally moves to a position at least one yard behind the line or on the end of the line and stays stationary there for at least one second.

Rule 5 numbers players by position, and the rule says eligible pass receivers and a T-formation quarterback must wear numerals 0 to 49 or 80 to 89. Offensive linemen wear 50 to 79. A player who wears an ineligible number may line up at an eligible position only if he reports the change to the Referee before the play, and a player with an eligible number may line up as an ineligible player within the normal five-player core of the line, as the reporting rules set out.

Article 8 makes illegal touching a foul. A forward pass thrown from behind the line is illegally touched if it is first touched intentionally or caught by an originally ineligible offensive player, or if it first touches or is caught by an eligible receiver who has gone out of bounds and then returned. The penalty is a loss of five yards at the previous spot. If such a pass is caught, it is a live ball.

Legal touching is described in Article 7: a pass thrown from behind the line may be touched by any eligible player, and a pass in flight may be tipped, batted or deflected in any direction by an eligible player at any time.

The wording comes from the official NFL playing rules, 2026 edition: Rule 8 for forward passes and eligible receivers, and Rule 5 for jersey numbers by position.

The rules are reviewed each year. This page was checked against the 2026 edition. More football pages are collected on the NFL hub, and the page about jersey number 0 covers the numbering rule.